There is theater that entertains, theater that makes you think, theater that touches the heart and stirs the soul, and every now and then, there’s a work of theater that achieves all of that, and in a way no other art form can.

The first of four performances of short works offered by the 10th anniversary Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival provided a little more than an hour of an eclectic variety of modern dance Friday night.

Bringing together all the different styles of Detroit, The Mo Pop Festival is set to bring life and excitement to West RiverFront Park for the seventh year. The two-day celebration, on July 27 and 28, will once again feature bands and musicians to thrill, unique artistic creations, and Detroit's own famously delicious food.

It is hard to imagine a more perfect show for southwest Michigan at the beginning of March to stave off the dreary doldrums of winter than “Once On This Island.” Visually warm and lovely, with music and performances this delightful, it’s impossible to not be transported to the French Antilles for a little over an hour in The Kalamazoo Civic’s excellent production of this mystical, marvelous tale.

Prohibition — “the noble experiment” — was a complete, counterintuitive failure. The hooch got dirtier, the crime messier, the consumption higher. Even Congress, the arbiters of such bogus legislation, had their own bootlegger, “The Man in the Green Hat”, who snuck whiskey, moonshine, scotch and more to members of office. Surprise, it didn’t stick.

An artist, educator and organizer, Sofía Ramírez Hernández shares her story through her work so that others won’t have to struggle the way she did. Hers is a story of immigration, identity definition and institutionalized discrimination.